Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 1: The Penal Zone
About
Wield psychic powers against fearsome foes in this epic 5 game comedy saga.
In The Devil’s Playhouse series, a mysterious power calls to the strongest and strangest who might wield it - intergalactic warlords and eldritch gods, under-dwellers and scholars of the arcane.
This first episode starts with a bang as gorilla invader Skunk'ape sets his sights on Max’s mysterious abilities. While mastering his future sight, teleportation, shape shifting and mind reading powers - and investigating their source - Sam & Max must fend off villainous Skunk’ape and get him banished to The Penal Zone.
The saga plays out in a surreal symphony of mayhem that gets deeper and more twisted with each episode.
* Episode 1: The Penal Zone
* Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
* Episode 3: They Stole Max's Brain!
* Episode 4: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls
* Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep
2010 Telltale, Inc. Sam & Max created by Steve Purcell. Sam & Max copyright and trademark Steve Purcell.
Purchase or use of this item is subject to the PlayStation®Network Terms of Service and User Agreement. This item has been sublicensed to you by Sony Computer Entertainment America.
In The Devil’s Playhouse series, a mysterious power calls to the strongest and strangest who might wield it - intergalactic warlords and eldritch gods, under-dwellers and scholars of the arcane.
This first episode starts with a bang as gorilla invader Skunk'ape sets his sights on Max’s mysterious abilities. While mastering his future sight, teleportation, shape shifting and mind reading powers - and investigating their source - Sam & Max must fend off villainous Skunk’ape and get him banished to The Penal Zone.
The saga plays out in a surreal symphony of mayhem that gets deeper and more twisted with each episode.
* Episode 1: The Penal Zone
* Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
* Episode 3: They Stole Max's Brain!
* Episode 4: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls
* Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep
2010 Telltale, Inc. Sam & Max created by Steve Purcell. Sam & Max copyright and trademark Steve Purcell.
Purchase or use of this item is subject to the PlayStation®Network Terms of Service and User Agreement. This item has been sublicensed to you by Sony Computer Entertainment America.
System requirements for PlayStation 3
System requirements for PC
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 1: The Penal Zone reviews and comments
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
The Game overall (Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse) is bad.
This Episode (like everyone else) is bad, too.
For The Devil's Playhouse in general It is Sam & Max's third Season with a distinctly different Graphics and Controls. It is hardly necessary to have played the previous Seasons (it didn't help me, anyway), even if some Protagonists reappear from it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229907810 While I understood the Plot well in Season One, but I understood something weird in Season Two, I only understood it here to maybe 10% and found it unspeakably bad.
This may be partly due to the Language. The Version in Steam is purely English. But even in German, I would have only understood a little more. She's just pretty confused in general. The Main Problem is because of the Narrative Style, which, it may be, some may find quite great. But I could not understand why what who is doing and what is the Purpose of most of the actions we are supposed to be doing to Move Forward. Stretingly, some Clarity came, but it is quickly replaced by absurd Developments from tortured Non-understanding.
Humour, if any, I have not found (or quite rarely).
Funny were the Grandfathers of Sam & Max, how they had something to do in ancient Egypt (Episode 2), unfortunately I soon didn't understand anything that was also due to the Puzzles.
Accordingly, my Mood sank into the Basement. The Puzzles were also often quite hard to tell us (how to get some of that ever?).
Max now has paranormal Abilities of various Kinds, which is a Focus of all Actions. So, depending on that, it can teleport, influence thoughts, take The Form of Objects, etc. I couldn't make friends with it, just because I'd rather like Max than what he was like in Season One.
This Further increases the possible Scope of action. Thus, the Puzzles often have a great Degree of Difficulty on the other hand and yet soo are often too little profound.
Actually, I think History like Puzzles are shamed, though I should look for more legislated Words in a Review.
In any case, it became too much for me and I didn't finish playing. It was absolutely no Fun for me.
A good one had the Game. I now appreciate other Point & Clicks better.
The Graphics are better than in Season One and Two.
The Language is English. A English that is not always easy for milcht, so half walked past me. It was also due to the rather stupid Dialogues.
The Controls have been changed. It's now not a classic Point & Click. In addition, You now have the Opportunity to move Sam with WASD. All Too Often, though, he doesn't move to where we want it, gets stuck somewhere, etc. Flidgeable when the Interaction Point is already visible on the Screen. But beware: The Points of Interaction Are completely imprecise, so you should always pay attention to the Text that indicates what is currently selected.
A classic Control would have been even better than this Control.
You could also use the Controller, which I quickly gave up because this works even worse (even with the Inventory).
Pro & Contra: o Little Humor-Miserable Story-Part incomprehensible Puzzle-Mostly Strange Old and New NPC's-Bad Control Rating: 3/10 A chillingly Bad Game. So at least absolutely not, really not to my Liking.
On Episode 1: The Penal Zone A Space Gorilla wants to take Control of the Earth with the help of Toys of power and ends up with his UFO right on Sam & Max's Doorstep.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229908876 Max can acquire these Toys and so has special Abilities. The individual Steps are quite hang, whereby the (deceased?) Mamma Bosco, Mole Man, Stinky and an alien brain take on strange Roles. The fact that Pigeons behave like Magpies is the least of the problems of Understanding.
Among other things, the Primal Computers also appear again as Protagonists, which I have never been able to suffer before.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1229908236 The Puzzles were still reasonably solvable, even if I actually found them as nonsensical as the Plot. Most recently, though, things got a bit hard because I just didn't get into the Pawn shop.
The other Episodes: Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5.
(But I still wrote very little.)